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COMPLIMENTS OF THE 

TRUSTEES OF THE GEORGE F. HOAR 

M EMORIAL FUND 




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DEDICATION OF THE 

STATUE OF THE 

HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR 

WORCESTER 

JUNE TWENTY-SIXTH 

190 8 



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INTEODUCTOEY 




]N response to a general invita- 
tion extended by Hon. Walter H. 
Blodget, Mayor of tlie City of 
Worcester, a meeting was held in 
tlie Mayor's office at the City Hall on Tues- 
day evening, April 25th, 1905, to consider 
the advisability of erecting a memorial to 
the late United States Senator George 
Frisbie Hoar. 

The meeting was presided over by the 
Mayor, and John P. Munroe was secretary. 
The following gentlemen addressed the 
meeting : Charles M. Thayer, Stephen Salis- 
bury, Henry A. Marsh, Matthew J. Whit- 
tall, Et. Eev. Mgr. Thomas Griffin, Jacob L. 
Goding, Joseph DeMarco, G. Stanley Hall, 
Eugene M. Moriarty and A. B. E. Sprague. 
As a result of the deliberations, it was 
voted to raise by popular subscription a 
memorial fund, and the following gentle- 
men were elected trustees of the George F. 
Hoar Memorial Fund: — 



4 George F. Hoar Memorial 

Walter H. Blodget, G. Stanley Hall, 
Rt. Rev. Mgr. Thomas Griffin, Philip J. 
O'Connell, James Logan, Stephen Salis- 
bury, Charles H. Hutchins, Jacob L. 
Goding, John F. Jandron, Henry A. Bow- 
man, Henry A. Marsh, Charles M. Thayer, 
A. George Bullock, F. O. Dahlquist, Arthur 
P. Rugg, Paul B. Morgan, Matthew J. 
Whittall, William E. Rice, John R. Thayer, 
Nathaniel Paine, Homer P. Lewis, David 
F. O'Connell, Napoleon P. Huot and John 
T. Duggan. 

On May 4th, 1905, the trustees formally 
organized by the election of Walter H. 
Blodget, chairman, Philip J. O'Connell, sec- 
retary, Charles M. Thayer, treasurer, and 
John B. Bowker, auditor. 

A trust agreement prepared by Charles 
M. Thayer was entered into and executed 
by the Board of Trustees, and filed in the 
office of the City Clerk. At this same meet- 
ing a plan was adopted for the raising of a 
fund by popular subscription. As a result 
of this plan more than 30,000 subscribers 
contributed to the fund, and inside of a few 
weeks' time a sum over twenty-one thousand 
dollars was received by the Treasurer. This 
money was placed on deposit in the Wor- 
cester Trust Company in the name of the 



Introductory 5 

President, Secretary and Treasurer. A 
suitably engraved certificate, bearing the 
signatures of the President, Secretary and 
Treasurer of the trustees, was given to 
each subscriber to the fund. 

At a meeting of the trustees held on 
July 20th, 1905, Daniel Chester French 
was chosen as the sculptor of the statue. 
Peabody and Stearns, of Boston, Mass., the 
architects of the Worcester City Hall, were 
chosen to design the pedestal of the statue. 
The pedestal was furnished by the Norcross 
Brothers Company. 

On July 24th, 1907, the following com- 
mittees were chosen: Committee to select 
an orator, Arthur P. Rugg, Charles M. 
Thayer, G. Stanley Hall. Committee on 
Dedication Exercises, Charles M. Thayer, 
Paul B. Morgan and Philip J. O'Connell. 

Arthur P. Rugg, Charles M. Thayer, G. 
Stanley Hall, Henry A. Marsh, Nathaniel 
Paine and Philip J. O'Connell served as a 
committee to formulate the inscriptions on 
the pedestal of the statue. The site of the 
statue was determined upon by the Board 
of Trustees on January 16th, 1908. 

The Hon. William H. Moody, of Haver- 
hill, Massachusetts, Justice of the Supreme 



6 George F. Hoar Memorial 

Court of the United States, accepted an 
invitation to deliver the address at the 
dedication of the statue. 

On the afternoon of June 26th, 1908, the 
statue was dedicated in the presence of a 
large concourse of people, the exercises 
being held in the open air on the green 
immediately north of the City Hall. 

The following is the programme of the 
exercises on that occasion : 

Prayer 

Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D. 

Address 

Hon. James Logan, Mayor of Worcester. 

Address 

Hon. Curtis Guild, Jr., 

Oovernor of Massachusetts. 

Oration .... 

Hon. William H. Moody, 

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

America 

Audience, accompanied hy Band. 



Trust Agreement 7 

COPY OF THE TKUST AGEEEMENT 

IN THE 

GEOEGE F. HOAE MEMOEIAL FUND 

Declaration of Trust made by Walter 
H. Blodget, Stephen Salisbury, Thomas 
Griffin, Matthew J. Whittall, James Logan, 
Francis O. Dahlquist, A. George Bullock, 
Charles H. Hutchins, Philip J. O'Connell, 
Paul B. Morgan, John E. Thayer, Homer P. 
Lewis, Henry A. Marsh, Arthur P. Eugg, 
William E. Eice, Henry A. Bowman, Jacob 
L. Goding, John F. Jandron, David F. 
O'Connell, G. Stanley Hall, Napoleon P. 
Huot, Nathaniel Paine, Charles M. Thayer, 
all of Worcester, in the County of Worces- 
ter and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS 

That whereas, at a meeting of citizens 
of Worcester held on April 25th, 1905, in 
response to an invitation issued by the 
Mayor, it was unanimously voted that it 
was appropriate and expedient to take 
immediate steps to erect upon some public 
site in Worcester a statue of George F. 
Hoar ; and 



8 George F. Hoar Memorial 

Whereas, at said meeting the persons 
whose names are hereinafter set forth were 
requested to act as a Board of Trustees to 
accomplish such a result; and 

Whereas, it is desirable that the author- 
ity and duties of said trustees should be 
set forth in legal form, 

Now, therefore, in consideration of one 
dollar and other sums of money to us paid 
by Edward Everett Hale, William D. Luey, 
Alexander Belisle, George F. Blake, Jr. 
and Joseph DeMarco, the receipt whereof 
is hereby acknowledged, we, Walter H. 
Blodget, Stephen Salisbury, Thomas Grif- 
fin, Matthew J. Whittall, James Logan, 
Francis O. Dahlquist, A. George Bullock, 
Charles H. Hutchins, Philip J. O'Connell, 
Paul B. Morgan, John E. Thayer, Homer P. 
Lewis, Henry A. Marsh, Arthur P. Bugg, 
William E. Eice, Henry A. Bowman, Jacob 
L. Goding, John F. Jandron, David F. 
O'Connell, G. Stanley Hall, Napoleon P. 
Huot, Nathaniel Paine, and Charles M. 
Thayer hereby covenant and agree with 
the said Edward Everett Hale, William D. 
Luey, Alexander Belisle, George F. Blake, 
Jr. and Joseph DeMarco, and with each 
one of them and with all other persons who 



Trust Agreement 9 

may deposit money witli us for the pur- 
poses herein set forth, that we will and our 
successors shall hold as trustees said sums 
thus deposited, upon the following terms 
and conditions, and for the following pur- 
poses : — 

CLAUSE I. 

To expend such sums as, in the opinion 
of the trustees, ma}" be necessary to carry 
out such plans for raising funds for the 
purposes herein set forth as may be deemed 
advisable by the said trustees. 

CLAUSE II. 

To expend such other sums as may in 
the opinion of the trustees be necessary to 
administer in a proper manner this trust. 

CLAUSE III. 

To use the balance of said fund, pro- 
vided in the opinion of the trustees a suffi- 
cient amount is subscribed on or before 
January 1, 1906, or on such date as the 
trustees may determine, to procure a statue 



10 George F. Hoar Memorial 

of George F. Hoar, including a pedestal to 
be erected upon some public site in the City 
of Worcester, the exact location to be 
determined by tlie trustees after conferring 
witb tlie City Government of Worcester 
and with the family of the late George F. 
Hoar. 

CLAUSE IV. 

If on January 1, 1906, or on such date 
as the trustees may determine, in the opin- 
ion of the trustees, a sufficient sum has 
not been subscribed to procure an adequate 
statue of Senator Hoar, then said trustees 
shall deposit with the Worcester Trust 
Company the balance in their hands, after 
making the payments for which provision 
is made in Clauses I and II of this instru- 
ment, and shall make arrangements with 
said Trust Company to make a pro rata 
distribution of said balance among all the 
subscribers to said fund. 

In the management of said trust fund, 
the trustees shall be governed by the fol- 
lowing rules. 



Trust Agreement 11 

I. 

NAME. 

Said trustees shall be designated as 
"The Trustees of the George F. Hoar Me- 
morial Fund of Worcester, Massachusetts." 

II. 

OFFICERS. 

The trustees shall elect from their num- 
ber a President, a Secretary, and a Treas- 
urer, each of whom shall hold that of&ce 
until his successor is elected. No trustee 
shall hold more than one office at one time. 

III. 

QUORUM. 

Two-thirds of the trustees shall consti- 
tute a quorum for the transaction of busi- 
ness, and no motion shall be declared car- 
ried unless it receives the votes of at least 
three-fourths of a quorum. 

IV. 

FUNDS. 

All funds received shall be deposited in 
one or more of the banking institutions of 



12 George F. Hoar Memorial 

the City of Worcester in tlie name of tlie 
trustees and shall be withdrawn only upon 
checks signed by the President, Treasurer 
and Secretary. 

V. 

CONTRACTS. 

No contract calling for the expenditure 
from said fund of more than twenty dol- 
lars shall be valid unless it is approved 
by at least two-thirds of the trustees. 

VI. 

AUDITOR. 

The trustees shall elect an auditor who 
shall hold his position until his successor 
is chosen and who shall audit the accounts 
of the trustees at least once in three months 
and at such times shall publish in each one 
of the daily papers of the City of Worces- 
ter a statement of the condition of the trust 
fund. No trustee shall be eligible for the 
position of auditor. 

YII. 

COMPENSATION. 

No trustee shall receive any compensa- 
tion for services rendered by him in con- 
nection with this trust. 



Trust Agreement 13 

VIII. 

VACANCIES. 

If vacancies occur in tlie board of trus- 
tees, the remaining trustees shall by ballot 
fill such vacancies, and the trustees may 
increase their membership to a number 
not exceeding twentj^-five. 

IX. 

AMENDMENTS. 

These rules may be amended and addi- 
tional rules may be made by the trustees, 
except, however, that no change shall be 
made in the rules relating to a quorum, or 
to the withdrawal of funds, or to the duties 
of auditor. 

This instrument shall be recorded with- 
in five days of its execution with the City 
Clerk of the City of Worcester, and if any 
changes are made in the rules governing 
the trustees, or an}^ new rules are added, as 
provided in Clause IX of this instrument, 
a certified copy of such changes, or addi- 
tions, shall be recorded with the City Clerk 
of the City of Worcester within five days 
from the time that they are in force. 



14 George F. Hoar Memorial 

In witness whereof^ we the said Wal- 
ter H. Blodget, Stephen Salisbury, Thomas 
Griffin, Matthew J. Whittall, James Logan, 
Francis O. Dahlquist, A. George Bullock, 
Charles H. Hutchins, Philip J. O'Connell, 
Paul B. Morgan, John E. Thayer, Homer 
P. Lewis, Henry A. Marsh, Arthur P. Rugg, 
William E. Rice, Henry A. Bowman, Jacob 
L. Goding, John F. Jandron, David F. 
O'Connell, G. Stanley Hall, Napoleon P. 
Huot, Nathaniel Paine, Charles M. Thayer, 
have set our hands and seals this fifth day 
of May in the year one thousand nine hun- 
dred and five. 

Walter H. Blodget Henry A. Marsh 

Paul B. Morgan Jacob L. Goding 

Stephen Salisbury David F. O'Connell 

Thomas Grifi&n John F. Jandron 

Napoleon P. Huot John R. Thayer 

Henry A. Bowman G. Stanley Hall 

James Logan Wm. E. Rice 

C. H. Hutchins Francis O. Dahlquist 

A. G. Bullock M. J. Whittall 

Nathaniel Patue Arthur P. Rugg 

Philip J. O'Connell Charles M. Thayer 

Homer P. Lewis 



Inscription 15 



INSCKIPTION ON THE PEDESTAL OF 
THE STATUE. 

West Side. 

George Frisbie Hoar 

born in concord august 29 1826 

died in worcester september 30 1904 

lawyer scholar orator statesman 

citizen of worcester 

for more than half a century 

member of massachusetts house of 

representatives 1852 

member of massachusetts senate 1857 

city solicitor of worcester 1860 
member of the united states house of 

representatives 1869-1877 
senator of the united states 1877-1904 



16 George F. Hoar Memorial 



North Side. 

PURITAN AND PATRIOT BY INHERITANCE 

UNSULLIED IN CHARACTER 

LOVER OF LIBERTY 

CHAMPION OF THE OPPRESSED 

HIS LIFE EMBODIED THE TRADITIONS OF 

MASSACHUSETTS 

AND OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC 

HIS HIGH IDEALS ZEAL FOR LEARNING AND 

CONSTRUCTIVE STATESMANSHIP 

MADE IMPERISHABLE CONTRIBUTIONS 

TO A GREAT PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

THIS STATUE IS RAISED 
BY GIFTS FROM THIRTY THOUSAND OF HIS 

TOWNSFOLK 

THAT THE PEOPLE FOR ALL TIME MAY BE 

INSPIRED BY THE MEMORY 

OF HIS PERSONAL VIRTUE AND PUBLIC SERVICE 



Inscription 17 



South Side. 

"I BELIEVE IN GOD, THE LIVING GOD, IN THE 
AMERICAN PEOPLE,, A FREE AND BRAVE PEOPLE, 
WHO DO NOT BOW THE NECK OR BEND THE 
KNEE TO ANY OTHER^ AND WHO DESIRE NO 
OTHER TO BOW THE NECK OR BEND THE KNEE 
TO THEM. 

I BELIEVE THAT LIBERTY^ GOOD GOVERN- 
MENT^ FREE INSTITUTIONS^ CANNOT BE GIVEN 
BY ANY ONE PEOPLE TO ANY OTHER, BUT MUST 
BE WROUGHT OUT FOR EACH BY ITSELF, SLOW- 
LY, PAINFULLY, IN THE PROCESS OF YEARS OR 
CENTURIES, AS THE OAK ADDS RING TO RING. I 
BELIEVE THAT, WHATEVER CLOUDS MAY DARK- 
EN THE HORIZON, THE WORLD IS GROWING BET- 
TER, THAT TODAY IS BETTER THAN YESTERDAY, 
AND TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER THAN TODAY." 





^EORGL FRISBIE HOAR 

(kiRN IN ». ONi. v>Kl> VLOl M' 2<i li-2b 

I'll IN ^oivi. L'-ri R ^t^'llMlS^■R .sv mu 

i W'l f R SI liOl AK ORArol! SIAIfSMAN 

iiiutN Of VNoiiorsTtK 

fOi; MiiRl THAN HAU A 1 1 NTUUV 
MlMI-lR l>f MAS--VHI M I IS Hi'UM. Of 

Rfi'RI.SINTATIV'lS K'K 

Ml MIHK 01 MAS--AI lU'Sf i IS SfNATt ISS? 

on soLIVlTOKOI ftORCfSllRlW'O 

M' MBiKoi mt iwnpsiAifsHOUSi Of 

(Hj>K|SiM.MlV|sltH.')' I.W/ 




PRAYER BY THE REVEREND 
EDWARD EVERETT HALE 




PRAYER BY THE REVEREND 
EDWARD EVERETT HALE 

ET us all join in prayer. Father 
of life, Father of love, we thank 
Thee for him. We thank Thee 
for his life. Father, we renew 
our vows and promises and hopes and peti- 
tions, that we may repeat his life, in re- 
membering the words that he taught us — 
in remembering the things that he did. We 
cannot thank Thee in words for what he 
did for his State and for his Country. But 
we do thank Thee when we enter into our 
Father's service, and seek as he sought to 
live for Thee and the world. That Thou 
hast revealed Thyself as a Father to us, 
who art Thy children. That Thou hast 
called us to enter into our Father's work, 
and to go about our Father's business. He 
knew this, and he entered into that service 
gently and brightly, and as a child of God 



22 George F. Hoar Memorial 

he sought to do what God had taught him 
to do. 

And we thank Thee for today and to- 
morrow, and for every new day we ask Thy 
blessing still upon this land with which 
Thou hast favored us before. That Thou 
wilt be with Thy children, and teach them 
the lesson of truth and holiness — that Thou 
wilt be with Thy children, and teach them 
to be Thy children. 

That Thou wilt be with this man we 
call our Governor. That he will govern 
the nation in the fear of God, that this may 
be the happy people whose God is the Lord. 

We ask this in the name of Christ Jesus, 
our Saviour. Amen. 



ADDRESS OF 

HONORABLE JAMES LOGAN, 

MAYOR OF WORCESTER 



ADDRESS OF 
HONORABLE JAMES LOGAN, 

MAYOR OF WORCESTER 




ADIES and Gentlemen : We have 
assembled here today to dedicate 
this memorial which has been 
erected by his fellow citizens to 
honor the memory of him who was the first 
citizen of this Commonwealth. 

This occasion is great because of the 
purpose for which we have come together, 
because of the character and fame of him 
whose memory we thus honor, our friend 
and neighbor, George Frisbie Hoar. A 
man whose whole life was characterized by 
unselfish public spirit, of unremitting, in- 
telligent, well directed effort for the welfare 
of his country and his fellow men. He had 
the ability to have amassed a great fortune, 
but he passed that by, putting aside the 
emoluments of his profession, devoting his 



26 George F. Hoar Memorial 

time and splendid talents to the public 
service, living a frugal, simple life tliat lie 
might serve you. 

It is good for the State and Nation in 
these days of strain and stress, when so 
much is measured by the standard of the 
dollar, to realize that the old truths still 
hold good, that "a good name is rather to 
be chosen than great riches" and that "He 
who is greatest among you shall be your 
servant." 

It is an inspiration for us to have such 
a splendid object lesson of the responsi- 
bility of citizenship and devotion to duty 
which compels men to pause in their mad 
rush for wealth and power and position, 
that they may take knowledge of the eter- 
nal verities, and see that there are some 
things of more permanent value than 
money, things which money cannot buy and 
which death itself cannot take away. 

Amid the strife and turmoil we some- 
times fail to discern the true greatness or 
the beauty of a life, but when death comes 
with its wonderful silence, which gives to 
us the true perspective, then it often hap- 
pens that the life that has been lived so 
near to us that we may have failed to 



Address — Hon. James Logan 27 

appreciate it, stands out in bold relief and 
with a clearer vision we see its beautiful 
outlines. 

The metal which was cast into the melt- 
ing pot which we call life having passed 
through the fire, the dross has vanished 
and only the pure gold remains. 

Nothing can be more fitting and seemly 
than the departure of one whose work has 
been well finished and who has reached the 
evening of his day. 

He lived a noble life of service and we 
are here met to celebrate the victory of 
that life, the triumph of a noble character. 

And when in the stillness of that Sep- 
tember night God called him home and we 
listened to the mournful tolling of the bells 
which made known to this community its 
great loss; that a prince among men had 
fallen; that the spirit of George Frisbie 
Hoar had returned to God who gave it, 
there went up from this stricken people a 
mighty sob, and we were taught that there 
was a brotherhood of grief, and that it was 
not unmanly to weep. 

To quote from a recent writer: ^^It 
would roh death of half its sting to he 
assured that daily your face would live he- 



28 George F. Hoar Memorial 

fore the vision of faithful hearts and your 
memory with redeeming faults as well as 
some feiv excellences he kept green J)y un- 
changing affection/^ 

And this I believe would be his highest 
wish, to be held in loving remembrance in 
this too forgetful world. 

The desire to be remembered beyond 
this short span of life is a real and persis- 
tent one. It shows itself quite uncon- 
sciously in the boy who carves his name or 
initials on the bark of the white birch, the 
fence post, the barn door, or on the desk 
in the district school, but to have left one's 
secret mark upon men; to have left the 
impress of one's life upon the nation; and 
when life's work is ended to be held in 
close and loving remembrance, not alone by 
those with whom he had been intimately 
associated, but by thousands whose names 
he could never know, whose faces he had 
never seen, is surely one of the richest 
compensations of earth. 

And so we have erected this monument, 
paid for by the freewill offerings of over 
30,000 people: 2,648 subscriptions of 1 
cent, 22,820 from 1 cent to 25 cents, 3,139 
from 25 cents to one dollar, 15 subscrip- 



Address — Hon. James Logan 29 

tions of over $100, and the subscriptions of 
128 societies, and this has been done as a 
reminder to the youth of coming genera- 
tions of the life he lived, and of the service 
which he rendered, that they may be in- 
spired with the true grandeur of American 
citizenship as exemplified in the life of this 
patriotic public servant, useful citizen, 
faithful friend and charming companion, 
the memory of whose life and service will 
be to this community an abiding posses- 
sion. 



ADDRESS OF 
HONORABLE CURTIS GUILD, JR., 
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 



ADDKESS OF 
HONORABLE CURTIS GUILD, JR., 

GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 




F 1 for a moment tax the patience 
of an audience eager to listen to 
tlie orator who most fittingly can 
deliver an appreciation of George 
Frisbie Hoar, speaking not only for our 
great senator's chosen profession, but for 
the nation itself, it is onh^ because no 
garland of encomium that we could weave 
would in the eyes of our lost friend be 
quite complete did it not contain at least a 
strand of the official blue and gold colors 
of the Commonwealth. 

The life and services of the man belong 
to the United States, but the man himself 
belongs to us. By tradition, by descent, 
by temperament, by ideals, he was all Mass- 
achusetts. Not her history merely, but 
every familiar bird and flower and tree 



34 George F. Hoar Memorial 

were the objects of an attachment that was 
almost a passion. 

A ripe scholar, the swelling hexameters 
of Homer, the tripping odes of Horace were 
to him no language of the dead, but the 
words of living friends. He brought to his 
great task an equipment based on a read- 
ing as broad as it was profound in history, 
in political economy, in literature. Yet, 
beneath it all, the shrewd, keen, analytical 
New England nature lay as the bed rock 
of his character. 

Downright in his decisions, this was a 
world of black and white to him, with never 
a hint of gray. 

Eight was right and wrong was wrong 
— to be respectively defended or attacked 
with equal ardor, almost with equal savage- 
ry. His logic, like his life, was as singular 
in its strength as in its simplicity. 

His first question was never "Is this 
thing expedient?" but "Is this thing right?" 
and his appeals for support were not to 
the leaders of faction, but straight to the 
conscience of the people. 

We shall remember him, indeed, in 
future years as the last of the Puritans; 
not because he was austere — he exulted in 



Address — Eon. Curtis Guild, Jr, 35 

the joy of living; not because lie was pre- 
judiced — he was a very crusader for the 
rescue of free thought in a free land; but 
because in public as in private life he lived 
uncompromisingly according to conviction 
and preferred defeat to equivocation. 

A seeker for the ideal, he had in marked 
degree the saving grace of common sense, 
and in him honest independence never 
degenerated into mere fantastic opposition. 

A wit, a scholar, a jurist, a statesman, 
a Christian American gentleman, we may 
well be proud that when posterity in the 
days to come names George Frisbie Hoar, 
it will be forced to add "of Massachusetts." 



ORATION OF 

HONORABLE WILLIAM H. MOODY, 

JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT 

OF THE UNITED STATES 




OKATION OF 
HONORABLE WILLIAM H. MOODY, 

JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OP 
THE UNITED STATES 



HOPE to receive your indulgence 
for the briefest reference, in the 
beginning, to a subject which 
primarily concerns me alone. 
But it concerns deeply the proprieties of 
my official station, and for that reason is 
not indifferent to others. It might weU 
be left unnoticed on this occasion, were 
it not that it leads up to a thought 
which ought to have place in the fore- 
front of these observances. One of the 
considerations which restrained me from 
the instant and eager acceptance of this 
high privilege was the doubt whether the 
silence upon present political issues im- 
posed by the judicial office could be recon- 
ciled with an attempt to commemorate a 



40 George F. Hoar Memorial 

life devoted to the public service, in the 
ways of statemanship, and in the works of 
political leadership. But the doubt was 
resolved by the reflection that this famous 
political career, though its significance 
lives today and ought always to live, is as 
essentially of the past as though it had 
ended a generation ago. Who understood 
this better than he himself, or expressed it 
more beautifully than he, on the centennial 
of the establishment of the government at 
Washington, where he said of his contem- 
poraries — "Their work is about done; they 
seem to survive for a brief period only, 
that the new century may clasp hands with 
the old and that they may bring to the 
future the benediction of the past." How 
clearly is this truth manifested in the auto- 
biography which he has left to us. The 
Administration which has played so great 
a part during the opening years of the 
century and the questions with which it 
has mainly dealt, appear but dimly there. 
The Chief of that Administration receives 
now and then a casual mention; its princi- 
pal officers none at all. He enters into no 
discussion of the momentous social and 
economic problems which have come for- 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 41 

ward so recently, and we know nothing of 
his opinions with regard to them, except 
as they may be gathered from his views of 
the older conflicts out of which they grew. 
So it happens that we may seek to portray 
the principles which governed this illustri- 
ous public character, and to cherish those 
which are beautiful and enduring as a rich 
inheritance, without fear that in the at- 
tempt we shall fan the embers of political 
strife into an angry flame. 

We need not linger long over the details 
of biography. Those are within the office 
of the historian. The duty of this occasion 
is to discover, if it be possible, the charac- 
ter and achievements which have led so 
many thousands to join in the raising of 
this statue to preserve their memory for 
posterity. 

George Frisbie Hoar was born in Con- 
cord, in this Commonwealth, of an ancestry 
which was his pride and inspiration all his 
life long. His youth gave no promise of 
great things. It was lived in a town and 
in a household where the air he breathed 
was laden with culture and conscience, 
honor and patriotism. His boyhood days 
were neither spoiled by luxury nor embit- 



42 George F. Hoar Memorial 

tered by hardship. He had as an under- 
graduate at Cambridge the best education 
afforded by the time, which he seems to 
have estimated lightly, for he called the 
four years wasted. I doubt if he valued 
these years justly. They were the essen- 
tial introduction to the life of study which, 
beginning at the law school, made him a 
lover of books, a master of literature and 
a scholar among men of affairs. They may 
well have taught him that honor for labor, 
that contempt for idleness which incited 
him to scorn ignoble ease, and live in his 
maturer years a life of incessant activity 
at the bar and in the public service. "This 
community," he said to you on the 200th 
anniversary of your township, "has never 
respected an idler, whether he were rich or 
poor." In such a spirit he wrote upon the 
wall of the library of the house where he 
lived and died, — "I must work the works 
of Him that sent me while it is day; the 
night cometh when no man can work." 
And as he wrote so he wrought to the end. 
He was a boy of 18 at college when his 
father, charged by the Commonwealth with 
the duty of protecting the rights of its 
colored seamen, was driven by threat of 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 43 

violence from the city of Charleston. It 
was the fortune of the son more than fifty 
years later to be received in that city with 
a delightful hospitality which touched his 
heart and brought to an end the already 
softened resentment. But it is no wonder 
in the early days, when the memory of that 
indignity was fresh in his mind, that the 
first political service which he ever ren- 
dered was the folding and directing of cir- 
culars calling in this city a convention of 
those who believed in free men upon a free 
soil; nor is it strange when, after his ad- 
mission to the bar, he came to choose his 
place of residence that he chose Worcester, 
chiefly because it was the stronghold of 
the new anti-slavery party. His ambitions 
then, as he has stated them, were modest, 
— a quiet practice, a small income and a 
few books. But he soon shared with this 
community the knowledge that the meas- 
ure of his abilities would not be met by 
such a fortune as this. Opportunity, which 
always seems to come to those who deserve 
it, brought to him an association with 
Emory Washburn, a leader of the Worces- 
ter bar, and then the care of a large prac- 
tice which devolved upon him through the 



44 George F. Hoar Memorial 

election of his partner to be Governor of 
the Commonwealth. He faced his respon- 
sibilities bravely and successfully and for 
twenty years, as counsellor and advocate, 
he steadily won his way to the front rank 
of a bar not excelled at any time in any 
county of this Commonwealth. I am not 
the man nor is this the time or place to 
take account of his success, ability, and 
rank as a lawyer. It is enough to say that 
his professional learning was a vital part 
of his equipment for a noble service to the 
country. These twenty years at the bar 
gave promise that if he had remained in 
that station, power and wealth would have 
come to him in abundance, then death, then 
a few years of admiring remembrance, then 
fading tradition, and, soon, oblivion. But 
he chose a greater fortune than all the 
wealth of his clients could have given him, 
or, rather, time and occasion chose that 
fortune for him. If he had lived in the 
times of the commonplace, it is likely that 
the career that I have imagined for him 
would have been realized. But youth came 
to him in one of those happy epochs when 
a great question was coming forward and 
demanding settlement and the question of 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 45 

his youth was one on which he had deep 
and abiding convictions. The day was 
approaching when the Nation must make 
expiation for the common original sin of 
human slavery and destroy it forever. No 
other cause than such an one as this could 
have challenged his allegiance to his chos- 
en profession. The cause came to him, 
summoned him, and he obeyed. Thus it 
was that, from the first, politics mingled 
with the law and, in the end, overpowered 
it. 

His first vote was cast in 1847 for the 
Whig candidate for Governor, though there 
was nothing in the Whig party or its tradi- 
tions and principles, useful and honorable 
as they were, which by themselves could 
have attracted him strongly. To the new 
party, which was born as he became of age, 
he was destined to yield a life-long devo- 
tion, as passionate as that of a lover for his 
mistress. He could see few faults in the 
object of his love and he could find excuse 
for all of them. The single bond of union 
between all the original members of that 
party, — the belief that all men were en- 
titled to freedom and equality before the 
law — was that which commanded his Intel- 



46 George F. Hoar Memorial 

lect and Ms heart. The enthusiasm of his 
youth never grew cold and he never fal- 
tered in the faith that that party would 
seek and find what seemed to him the paths 
of righteousness. Nothing could be more 
touching than the serene confidence of his 
later days, undimmed by the indifference 
or the cynicism of the age, that the party of 
his early love would always in the end fol- 
low those paths. How fine it is that any man 
could say, as he did as the end approached, 
— "No political party in history was ever 
formed for objects so great and noble. And 
no political party in history was ever so 
great in its accomplishment for liberty, 
progress and law." 

In the formation of the Free Soil Party, 
soon to assume its final shape as the Kepu- 
blican Party, the movement for the aboli- 
tion of slavery took on menacing form and 
substance. Mr. Hoar made, in 1850, his 
first speech in your City Hall in support 
of its principles. From that time forth, 
along with his professional avocations, he 
kept a keen interest in political affairs, be- 
came part of the party organization, pre- 
sided and spoke at political meetings, and 
in the two years' service in the two Houses 



Oration — Hon, Wm. H, Moody 47 

of the Massachusetts Legislature acted as 
one of the leaders of the cause which that 
party represented. It was quite natural, 
when, in 1869, weary with the exacting de- 
mands of professional life, he announced 
his willingness to accept a nomination to 
Congress, that, without effort on his part 
and almost against his wish, he should 
have been chosen. And so he went to 
Washington as a Kepresentative from this 
District, believing, as so many others have 
done before, and since, that he was to enter 
upon a mere episode in his life and that 
after the passing of a few years he would 
again return to the law. But, happily, it 
was ordered otherwise. The one, or at the 
most the two, term limit which he had set 
for himself lengthened into thirty-five 
years of complete devotion to public duty, 
ending only with his life. He went forth 
from you a strong man, with settled con- 
victions, with an intellect cultivated by 
education and trained in all the affairs of 
life, with a high local reputation and an 
assured professional standing. He came 
back to you, to die, one of the great men of 
his time, with a fame which, though pecu- 
liarly your own possession, you must share 
with the Commonwealth and the Nation. 



48 George F. Hoar Memorial 

What was the secret of this wonderful 
transformation? By what means did the 
inconspicuous citizen of Worcester come to 
be, his neighbors and friends scarcely 
realizing, the statesman whose death was 
mourned from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
and beyond the seas? It was no sudden 
leap to a pinnacle, no single splendid deed, 
no leadership for a few intense years of 
some great cause. It was rather the faith- 
ful performance of every duty, a mastery 
of the varied details of our national life, a 
constantly growing power and the con- 
stantly growing confidence of the people 
which resulted from it, and over all a mas- 
terful conscience which compelled obedience 
to its decrees. We must be content now 
with such generalities as these. If we 
sought to prove their truth by an array of 
the facts Avhich support them, it would 
carry us far into the historj^ of the country 
for the past forty years. I can do no more 
today than to try to discern and describe 
some of the traits of character and intellect 
which brought to him such honor and fame, 
that the record of his life is one of the 
richest treasures of the Commonwealth. 

He won his way to public ofiice by no 
unworthy means. He could have told them 



Oration — Hon. Wm. JS. Moody 49 

all to you in any of your churches, without 
shame or without shrinking. If any one 
had ever proposed to him that he should 
procure his nomination or election to office 
by the expenditure of his own money in his 
own behalf, I fancy he would have rejected 
the proposal with unspeakable loathing. 
He has told us, and I never heard it doubt- 
ed, that he never lifted a finger or spoke a 
word to promote his own election to office. 
I can well believe this to be true. In the 
winter of 1900 it was said to me that he 
believed that at the next session of the 
Legislature his service in the Senate would 
be brought to an end. I called to ask him 
if it were true. He said, — "I have differed 
from my Party on a subject of the highest 
importance. I do not reflect the views of 
the majority of my own State. I have no 
right to expect that under these circum- 
stances I shall be continued in office. I 
have no doubt that I shall be displaced by 
some younger man more in harmony with 
the policy of the Party. I have been treat- 
ed generously by the people of Massachu- 
setts and I do not complain." It seemed 
not to enter his mind to appeal to those 
Avlio might be supposed to have influence 



50 George F. Hoar Memorial 

in the Party councils, and I doubt if lie 
even asked tlie aid, so freely given, of his 
colleague, with whom he was upon terms 
of the most affectionate friendship. Scorn- 
ing to beg or purchase office, his way of 
seeking it was to keep his Party right by 
wise counsel, no doubt to make modest con- 
tributions to its funds, to foster its for- 
tunes by convincing speech, and to deserve 
the confidence of the people by performing 
faithfully every public duty which came to 
him. This is what he proudly termed "the 
Massachusetts way." If it be not always 
the Massachusetts way, it was his way 
and a way Massachusetts cannot afford to 
despise. 

He had little skill in the arts of politi- 
cal management. When I say this I do 
not intend to rate those arts meanly or in 
the slightest degree to disparage those 
who practice them. They are necessary; 
they can be and ought to be practiced 
honorably. But he had none of them. He 
was the last man in the world to whom one 
would go for an accurate prophecy of a 
vote in the Senate. He had neither taste 
nor talent for the small management of 
men. He could not persuade in the cloak- 



Oration — Hon. Wm, H, Moody 51 

room ; he could not go from one to another 
and set up a vote on tMs question against 
a vote on that question. He knew how he 
would vote. He was capable of expressing 
on the floor in terse and vigorous English 
the reasons which impelled him to the vote. 
When that was done he left the result to 
care for itself. Nevertheless, on the larger 
negotiations and the larger currents of our 
national affairs he exercised a considerable 
influence and he was aided by a shrewd 
judgment of the character of the men with 
whom he dealt. But above all he knew the 
secret of political management by appeals 
to the people. He understood what is so 
often forgotten at Washington that when 
the people were convinced, their represen- 
tatives soon would follow ; and so his legis- 
lative career is marked with a series of 
closely reasoned arguments, which were 
read by thousands of his countrymen. He 
knew that great causes could be won more 
surely by leading the people than by cau- 
cusing their servants. 

He performed cheerfully and without 
complaint the little irksome tasks which 
the people have the right to demand of 
their representatives. 



52 George F. Hoar Memorial 

He was a leader in tlie victorious 
struggle which has removed the appoint- 
ment and tenure of thousands of office- 
holders from the system of patronage to 
the system of merit. That part of the duty 
of appointment to office which the Consti- 
tution conferred upon him as a Senator 
he discharged with scrupulous fidelity, 
marred only, if it can be said thus to be 
marred at all, by an amiable overestimate 
of the merits of his friends and a lovable 
sentiment which sometimes misled his 
judgment. 

When he was first nominated for Con- 
gress, it is said that the choice fell upon 
him rather than upon any of his worthy 
competitors because it was thought that he 
possessed a power of public speech which 
would cause the District to count for much 
in the councils of the Nation. His constitu- 
ents judged that no man could succeed 
greatly in the National Legislature who 
had not that power. Their confidence was 
signally justified. They builded even bet- 
ter than they knew. They sought to give 
their district a larger infiuence, and they 
gave to the country a new power. He him- 
self has truly said that he lacked some- 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 53 

thing of the external graces of oratory, but 
surely no man of his time has excelled, or 
perhaps even equalled, his capacity for 
persuasive, cogent and eloquent speech. 
One who has witnessed only the stately 
courtesy and measured periods of his later 
years in the Senate, when the chamber was 
crowded with eager listeners and the 
spoken words were read the next morning 
in all the States of the Union, can scarcely 
realize the fiery attack, obstinate defense, 
quick and bitter retort and overwhelming 
power with which he met his antagonists 
in the earlier days. He neither asked nor 
gave quarter ; he was intent on winning the 
debate of the moment. To those who know 
the House of Kepresentatives, it is not 
strange that this quality of speech brought 
him speedily to the front rank in that body. 
A seat in the Senate, at the Cabinet table 
or on the Bench brings to any man abun- 
dant consideration and authority, but a 
seat in the House of Representatives brings 
only opportunity and he who succeeds 
there succeeds by the cold and impartial 
test of merit. If there were needed evi- 
dence of his place in the House, his appoint- 
ment as one of its representatives on the 



54 George F. Hoar Memorial 

Electoral Commission and as one of tlie 
managers of the impeacliment of Secretary 
Belknap is enougli. In the latter place he 
gave to our literature a treasure which will 
be prized as long as incorruption in of&ce is 
held dear by our people. 

I have spoken of his passionate love 
for the party of his choice. He not only 
had faith in his party, he believed in govern- 
ment by party. If you were not of his 
party he would have you of the other party. 
Perhaps he did not do full justice to the 
bod}^ of independent men who think that 
they serve better uses if the parties can be 
made to realize that they must deserve 
the suffrage, not only of their adherents 
but also of those who hold themselves aloof. 
But, independence, it seemed to him, some- 
times lacked a sense of just proportion, 
and often degenerated into impartial 
abuse. He respected a valiant opponent, 
but he despised the mere critic — the man 
who railed at him who was carrying the 
burden and carried no burden himself. 
And he was convinced that one who ex- 
pects to accomplish much in our national 
life can only do it within the limits and 
through the cooperation of political parties. 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 55 

Mr. Hoar was in full accord with the 
constitutional and economic principles of 
his party, principles which it may be said 
to have inherited in large part from the 
Whigs, though the heir developed and in- 
creased the inheritance. He was there- 
fore an ardent advocate of the policies of 
internal improvement and of tariff protec- 
tion to our industries. In his interpreta- 
tion of the Constitution he was of the 
school of Marshall, Hamilton, Wilson and 
Webster. He recognized that the national 
government in all its branches was one of 
delegated and limited powers, but he found 
in the broad and general grants of power 
contained in the Constitution ample au- 
thority for efficient national rule and did 
not demand that every governmental act 
should find its special warrant in specific 
words. He appreciated clearly the vast 
extent of the power vested in the Congress 
by the commerce clause of the Constitu- 
tion. Besting his position on this clause, 
in a speech in the House of Eepresentatives 
as early as 1874, he supported a bill, which 
he in part had framed, for the regulation 
of the rates of interstate railroads, and in 
that speech he showed briefly but conclu- 



56 George F. Hoar Memorial 

sively the vital interest of New England 
in the question of interstate transporta- 
tion. Many years after, in the Senate, he 
had a large share in giving its final form 
to the misnamed Sherman Act for the sup- 
pression in interstate commerce of the 
combinations loosely called "trusts," but 
he disagreed with the interpretation which 
the Supreme Court has since given to that 
act. He was always a supporter of a 
national bankrupt law and without his aid 
the law now upon the statute book would 
not have been enacted. In his long legis- 
lative career illustrations of his potent in- 
fluence upon questions of such a nature 
might be multiplied. For the dealing with 
them he was well equipped by a long ex- 
perience at the bar, an adequate knowledge 
of constitutional principles, and a keen in- 
telligence, all made singularly effective by 
the capacity for tactful and lucid debate. 
In this region he was an equal among his 
associates, but no more. Here he labored 
earnestly, faithfully and with notable re- 
sults, but without the enthusiasm which he 
reserved for what he deemed higher things. 
He became one of a still more select 
company when there came forward prob- 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 57 

lems touching the nature of our govern- 
ment and the relations of the several parts 
to each other and to the whole, and to the 
people whom by their choice it ruled. At 
such times he spoke and was heard as one 
having an authority which was shared 
with few others. 

When we pass to still higher altitudes 
we find him standing there alone. In that 
splendid isolation we may always yield him 
reverence, even though it be that our lesser 
faith now and then falters. We shall fail 
to appreciate this finest side of his charac- 
ter in which he excelled all the public men 
of his time, unless we understand some of 
its moral elements. He has been called a 
Puritan of the Puritans. Indeed he had 
no trace of other blood, and the stern quali- 
ties of the race that overturned thrones, 
destroyed misrule, created institutions and 
founded governments came down to him 
through every avenue of descent. But his 
came to be a Puritanism without intoler- 
ance, as zealous for the civil and religious 
rights of others as for its own. He was a 
man of ideals and they broadened and 
sweetened his nature. His ideals ruled 
not only his faith but his conduct as well. 



58 George F, Hoar Memorial 

He held them above party, above friends, 
above success, above renown. When they 
were drawn in question he was superb in 
the intensity of conviction and purpose, 
w^hich he clothed in speech of surpassing 
vigor and beauty. To worship God in the 
manner and form their consciences dic- 
tated, to be exempt from all government 
except of their own choice, to be free and 
equal before the law, these to this Puritan 
idealist were the fundamental rights of all 
men. In defending them in his old age he 
displayed all the fire and enthusiasm of his 
youth. He would not compromise, he 
would not qualify, he would not postpone 
these great rights. He would not keep 
them for his own country or his own race, 
he would bestow them upon all mankind. 
Let them be denied to whatever race or 
color, whether Chinese, Negroes or Filipi- 
nos, he was always their champion, with a 
multiplied zeal if he thought they were 
desolate and oppressed. In the battle for 
such cause he shone supreme. Defeat did 
not dismay or delay discourage him. He 
remained steadfast. The happiness of his 
last years was clouded by the difference 
with his party which on an issue like this 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 59 

his convictions forced upon Mm. There 
can be no doubt of the pain which this dif- 
ference brought to him. "God help me," 
he said, "I can do no otherwise." This 
day's work would be sadly incomplete if it 
left unnoticed this final chapter of his life, 
which illustrated so many of his highest 
qualities. The policy of the Government 
toward the Philipine Islands was abhor- 
rent to him in all its details. In a series 
of speeches of great power, he opposed 
their acquisition for the purpose of govern- 
ing them, even for a time, without the con- 
sent of their inhabitants. He thought the 
Constitution afforded no warrant for an 
acquisition for such a purpose; he thought 
that it violated the spirit of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, which to him was 
"the greatest evangel that ever came to 
mankind since the story of Bethlehem ;" he 
thought that it was a cruel wrong, un- 
worthy of our people, to crush out a rising 
republic, to impose upon a people a govern- 
ment to which they had not consented, to 
give to them as a favor even the best of 
governments, for to his mind there was no 
good government except self-government. 
All questions of the material interest, 



60 George F. Hoar Memorial 

either of the Filipinos or of our own people, 
he put aside as unworthy of serious con- 
sideration. He stood on higher grounds. 
He pleaded for the Filipinos as for Hamp- 
dens and Washingtons and Adamses and 
Jeffersons and Henrys, and he lamented 
the wound which he believed our departure 
from the fundamental principles of the 
Kepublic had inflicted upon our own people. 
He lost the fight, but he kept the faith. "I 
know," said he, in closing one of the speech- 
es to which I have referred, "how feeble is 
a single voice amid this din and tempest, 
this delirium of Empire. It may be that the 
battle for this day is lost. But I have an 
assured faith in the future. I have an 
assured faith in justice and the love of 
liberty of the American people. The stars 
in their courses fight for freedom. The 
Euler of the Heavens is on that side. H 
the battle today go against it, I appeal to 
another day, not distant and sure to come." 
Many differed from him and believed that 
time and conditions were not ripe for the 
accomplishment of all his noble aspira- 
tions. But even by them those aspirations 
have come to be cherished as the ultimate 
ends to which all our efforts should be 



Oration — Hon. Wm. H. Moody 61 

directed. It has been decreed tliat the 
final settlement is not for this day or gene- 
ration, and we may not safely speak for 
any other. If the utterances of responsible 
public men are to be trusted, if we have 
faith, as he did, that the liberties which we 
demand for ourselves will be bestowed upon 
others under our control, we may be 
assured that the inhabitants of the Phil- 
ippine Islands will in God's appointed time 
live under a government of their own 
choice. Then would the clouds of disap- 
pointment which darkened the closing 
years of this fruitful and fortunate life be 
lifted. Then would the unfaltering cour- 
age with which he held his high soul above 
despair be rewarded. Then would the 
serene confidence with which he looked for- 
ward to that other day, "not distant and 
sure to come," stand justified. 

It seems almost an intrusion, here, to- 
day, to his kindred, neighbors and friends, 
to speak of the beauties of his private life, 
his insensibility to the allurements of 
wealth, his indifference to the constant de- 
cay of his fortune, his devotion to the civic 
duties of this community, his love of city, 
home and family, his gentle Christian life 



62 George F. Hoar Memorial 

and belief. The time of his departure was 
well chosen. We cannot but rejoice that 
he was spared the sorrow of the untimely 
death of his son, to whom he would long 
ago have gladly yielded the few years of 
public life which remained to him. For- 
tunate it was that with hope undimmed, 
happy in the love of those dear to him, 
covered with honors which came because 
he had labored and spared not, sustained 
by faith in God and faith in man, he lay 
doTVTi for the eternal rest which we fondly 
trust is but another name for the life ever- 
lasting. 



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WORCESTER, MASS. 



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